San Diego News

San Diego Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

San Diego, California - Howard Willie Carter, II, a San Diego resident, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz to 168 months in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, based on Carter’s conviction for receipt of child pornography.

Carter, who has been in custody since his arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on October 17, 2012, pled guilty on November 14, 2013.

According to court documents, in August 2012, Carter was receiving and viewing images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. After a forensic review of his computer, it was discovered that he possessed well over 600 illegal images and videos, with the majority of the images involving minors under the age of 12. The forensics examination of the computer conducted by the San Diego Regional Computer Forensic laboratory (RCFL) revealed that Carter attempted to upload one of those videos to YouTube to be viewed by others.

At sentencing yesterday, Judge Moskowitz stated that given Carter’s past criminal history and his conduct in the current case, Carter appeared to be a danger to the community and a significant sentence was warranted.

“Unfortunately, child exploitation is an epidemic in this nation,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “Howard Carter’s actions highlight the dangerousness of this type of activity in our community. I hope this long sentence will prevent him and others from exploiting a victim in the future.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Daphne Hearn commented, “Each image Mr. Carter possessed represented the victimization of a child. We hope today’s sentencing sends a clear message to anyone involved in the online sexual exploitation of a child, that the FBI will not tolerate the victimization and destruction of our children’s future. We will remain vigilant and committed to removing sexual predators from our children’s lives.”

This case stems from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Defendant

Howard Willie Carter

Age: 37

San Diego, California

Case Number: 12CR4191-BTM

Charges

Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2) – Receipt of Child Pornography